Niantic Says Pokémon Go Location Data Won’t Be Given To Saudi Arabia Government

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The popular game Pokémon Go, along with Niantic’s entire gaming business, will soon be owned by Scopely following a $3.5 Billion sale. Recently, Michael Steranka, the senior product director at the future Scopely-owned Niantic, has spoken out about concerns raised by some players regarding the game’s acquisition, such as the handling of player location data and who can access it.

As a dedicated fan, I recently found myself engaged in an extensive conversation spanning an hour with TrainerTips, the renowned Pokémon Go YouTuber. We delved into various aspects of the game, including the reasons behind its sale, forthcoming changes, the concept of in-game pop-up ads, and, indeed, the controversial topic of player location data being shared with the Saudi Arabian government.

For those who might not know, Scopely has been acquired by Savvy Games Group. Savvy is a video game investment firm and developer, supported by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. With the sale of the game, some users have expressed concerns on different social media platforms regarding their data potentially reaching a foreign government. However, Steranka assures players that there’s no need for concern in this regard.

Sternaka confirmed that all player location data and scanned locations remain in the US. They are not shared with Savvy or any other entity. Additionally, Scopely operates independently within the country. This means that your data is securely stored within U.S. servers, and we even delete it once it’s no longer required to run the game.

The cleaning of the data stems from a prior statement in the same interview. Steranka mentions that, contrary to common assumption, the company does not retain any player data beyond what is necessary to run the game effectively.

He emphasized that the data will continue to be kept “completely encrypted and secure,” just as it has been since the game was initially released in 2016.

The remainder of the conversation offers valuable insights as Steranka discusses the expansion of the game post-sale, the role of The Pokémon Company, Remote Raids, and related topics.

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2025-03-19 23:48